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Wednesday, April 06, 2016

On Inspiration and Writing an Artist Statement

Life gets too
busy.I was fairly regular at writing
blog posts for while but then … well, I just stopped.I actually quite enjoyed doing it so I am not
sure why it got dropped.Anyway here I
am again.

I like the work "Inspiration" It means to breathe in spirit just like "expiration" is to breath it out.

I think writing
really helps to get ideas straight.I
had to write a new artists statement this week for a gallery.I wanted to write about the “Why” I make art
and what inspires me.I am also doing an
online art course and we were asked to think about what inspires us, and what
is important in our life, and then make a collage with all the ideas on it.

It wasn’t meant
to be a work of art so I got a board and wrote, painted and stuck things on
it.The idea is to put it up in our
studio.After I did it I wasn’t so sure
that I wanted to share it, which is strange because I am not usually shy about
such things.

My new studio space.

New studio space with old and new works.

The thing is is
that art is so personal.It’s shows who
you are and what you care about and puts it out for all to see.At least in paintings you only get hints
of this but doing the inspiration board, there it was loud and clear and I
don’t think I was ready to own up to it.

It was
embarrassing to find that I was aiming for big things.I want my work to speak of harmony, joy, and
connection to something deeper.I want
to find those qualities for myself and then put it out in the world, to give people
something uplifting in a world, which can often be so sad and depressing.I feel my abilities are not up to the task.

So I wrote the
artists statement.Somehow I didn’t feel
quite as exposed in words as I did looking at my childlike inspiration board.

I'm going to be daring and put my "Inspiration" board up here. It's actually very simple and not that revealing after all! I now have more things to add.